I'm so lucky that I have a husband who is always up for surprises... usually of the animal type. He tells me I have a knack for finding just the right animals for us.
A year ago, I adopted a feral kitty from my former employer. They have a corporation yard where, unfortunately, many feral kittens are born every year, despite the drive to spay/neuter all the adult cats they find there. Murphy joined our family on July 3, 2020 - during one of our hardest years... pandemic was just one of the many difficult things we endured that year. Murphy was a light that shined bright for us, and still is.
Two New Additions
Just the other day, I saw a post about three more feral kittens from this year's crop. Hopefully it's just the one litter. One kitten was caught early, and went to a good home. I told my former employer that I would love to have another Corp Yard Kitty. Yesterday, I got a text that two kittens were caught, and could I take both until they could get someone to adopt the 2nd one.
After a little wrestling, a few scratches and a bite later - even with gloves on - I was able to wrangle both of them into the carrier.
They are probably about 6-8 weeks old, maybe in the wild a little longer than Murphy was when we got him, but still young enough to be tamed.
I brought them home, and my eldest son saw them first. "Oh no, what did you get now?" he says.
Luckily we have a spare bathroom that is still in need of being remodeled. It's perfect home for the new kittens for a little while.
Taming feral kittens takes time and patience. When they are this scared, the only thing you can do is give them food, talk to them, and make sure they realize that this is a safe place for them.
I was going to only take one. But just look at them, I can't separate them now. Luckily we have a big area for them to roam around in once they get to know that we are family.
In 5-7 days, we will be opening the crate door and allowing them to roam the bathroom area. There are no holes for them to get into. When that happens, we will be able to sit in their space with them and begin to hold them, first using a towel, then without.
The whole process could easily take several weeks or months.
We've named them Velvet and Bobbie - still unsure of gender, we felt that these names were genderless. My youngest came up with the name Bobbie, and we found it fit, since this little one also has Manx Syndrome - and has a bobbed tail.
The interesting thing is, these two look a little like Murphy and our other cat Axle, though Bobbie is a little more grey than Murphy's brown.
Murphy and Axle - loving the good life.